Cygnet’s 'Sweeney Todd' almost true to original

Sean Murray (left) directs and takes the starring role in “Sweeney Todd” at Cygnet’s Old Town Theatre. The unlucky gent in the chair is Steve Gunderson as Judge Turpin.
— John R. McCutchen / Union-Tribune

Sean Murray (left) directs and takes the starring role in “Sweeney Todd” at Cygnet’s Old Town Theatre. The unlucky gent in the chair is Steve Gunderson as Judge Turpin.
— John R. McCutchen / Union-Tribune

Murray: “He traditionally starts as a killer. He’s scary, and he comes into the play, ‘I’m going to kill everybody!’ For us, the story’s over if that happens.”

Murray said he intends to play Sweeney as a brokenhearted man, who progressively slices his way to madness.

It’s Murray and Vasquez, not Burton and Depp

Cygnet’s production won’t have as much blood spray as the 2007 “Sweeney Todd” directed by Tim Burton, starring his male muse Johnny Depp. The movie was rated R for graphic bloody violence.

There is some blood work in Cygnet’s version, Vasquez assured, but not so much that the first few rows of Old Town Theatre are designated a splash zone. (Too much gore, and they’d never get those Victorian costumes clean.)

The play is also longer than the movie. The latter cuts out trademarks like the dead-looking company chorus, who sing the prelude in stage productions. (Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd / His skin was pale and his eye was odd / He shaved the faces of gentlemen / Who never thereafter were heard of again.)

Just as Depp is Burton’s go-to guy, as a director, Murray seems to have a favored leading man for Sondheim, too: himself. He starred in and directed “A Little Night Music.”

Murray: “I don’t like to be a big ego monster, but I didn’t feel there was a Sweeney I could work with. I promise you, if I didn’t feel confident in it, I wouldn’t do it.”

And having Vasquez co-direct helps keep him from looking like “a big fool,” too.

Whaddaya know, it’s Sondheim’s 80th

This show coincides with its composer’s birthday (March 22). And it was accidental, Murray said. Although the two “Sweeney” directors are Sondheim fans.

Vasquez: “He’s kind of a musical Shakespeare in a sense. Shakespeare, in his writing, he gives you everything you need. He gives the actor exactly where you need to go. Sondheim’s music does that.”

Murray: “It’s like the music is underscoring the thought processes of the character. There’s a number that [is] so specific, where a letter is being written, and he actually has where you dip into the ink. To try to get into the depths of all the things that are going on is extremely challenging. It’s also funny and fun, [like] creating a fun musical monster movie in a way.”